wilKk 
1900 


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Km 


Inaugural  Address 


OF 


REV.  W.  P.  KANE,  D.  D., 


As  President  of 


Wabash  College 


Crawfordsville, 

Indiana, 
Feb.  22,  1900. 


••;:-••  ••..-.  •;;••;. 


•  •  • 


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)      J  ' 


Inaugural  Address 


OF 


REV.  W.  P.  KANE,  D.  D., 


As  President  of 


Wabash  College 


Crawfordsville, 

Indiana, 
Feb.  22,  1900. 


Brower  Bros'.  Print. 


UllKk 


Inaugural  Address. 


In  these  closing  years  of  the  century  the  attention  of  men  is 
concentrated  as  never  before  on  the  importance  which  attaches  to 
the  place  and  problems  of  education.  Two  facts  stand  out  promi- 
nently in  this  connection.  The  first  is  the  enlarged  conception  we 
have  gained  of  the  province  and  meaning  of  education  in  the  pur- 
pose of  life  and  in  the  affairs  of  men.  We  are  coming  more  and 
more  to  understand  that  education  is  not  a  detail  or  incident  of  life, 
but  its  hidden  secret  and  its  determining  force;  and  that  things  with 
which  we  have  to  do  in  this  world  are  significant  in  proportion  as 
they  affect  the  processes  of  education  for  good  or  for  evil.  The  su- 
preme test  of  any  truth  or  idea  or  institution  is  its  educational  value. 

The  educational  idea  reaches  its  climax  when  we  understand 
that  it  is  the  underlying  philosophy  and  the  final  goal  of  religion ; 
for  religion  itself  is  but  an  endless  process  of  the  unfolding  and  en- 
richment of  the  powers  bound  up  in  our  being.  Xo  man  is  suddenly 
transformed  by  ecstatic  experience,  but  gradually  and  patiently 
fashioned  anew  by  the  divine  forces  that  work  on  him  and  within 
him.  We  no  longer  look  for  the  sudden  rolling  of  the  great  world 
out  of  shadow  into  light.  "We  begin  to  understand  that  a  long  and 
painful  education  lies  between  the  sinful  and  ignorant  world  of  to- 
day and  the  wise  and  righteous  world  of  a  thousand  years  hence. 


4 


The  Bible  assumes  new  and  larger  meaning  when  we  read  it  as  the 
history  of  the  divine  process  by  which  God  Himself,  the  Great 
Teacher,  has  been  through  the  ages  slowly  educating  the  race  out  of 
ignorance  and  weakness  into  spiritual  vision  and  moral  strength. 
The  family,  the  State,  the  manifold  business  affairs  of  men  are 
never  truly  understood  until  they  are  recognized  as  parts  of  the 
great  educational  forces  that  are  shaping  and  developing  human 
life. 

Just  in  proportion  as  we  grasp  this  profounder  and  vaster  mean- 
ing of  education  as  it  has  to  do  with  the  whole  course  of  living,  so 
shall  we  prize  the  special  institutions  and  appointments  that  have 
to  do  directly  with  the  training  of  mind  and  the  development  of 
power.  And  so  the  college  and  the  various  institutions  of  learning 
are  accorded  a  recognition  today  that  they  have  never  had  before. 
There  has  never  been  so  widespread,  and,  on  the  whole,  so  intelli- 
gent an  interest  in  educational  questions  as  at  the  present  moment. 

The  second  significant  fact  is  the  sharply  critical  attitude  of 
the  age  toward  traditional  ideas  and  methods  in  education.  This 
is  almost  inevitably  a  result  of  the  intensified  interest  and  increased 
appreciation  to  which  I  have  referred.  That  which  has  to  do  so 
directly  and  so  vitally  with  every  supreme  interest  deserves  the  most 
critical  and  searching  attention.  So  old-time  theories  of  education 
are  being  called  to  judgment,  and  long- established  methods  are  com- 
pelled to  justify  their  claims  or  give  place.  This  is  not  a  matter  for 
regret  but  rather  for  congratulation.  Whatever  is  worthy  will  be 
freshly  approved  under  arraignment,  and  that  which  is  unworthy 
ought  to  go.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  surprise,  therefore,  that  in  these 
days  we  should  read  and  hear  much  about  the  "new  education,"  with 
its  superior  claims. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  on  this  occasion  to  take  your  time  a  for  re- 
view or  .discussion  of  the  controverted  points  between  the  old  and 
the  new.  I  am  in  hearty  sympathy  with  the  spirit  of  progress.  I 
have  no  reluctance  in  surrendering  whatever  the  changes  of  progress 
make  necessary.  Nothing  is  to  be  defended  simply  because  it  is 
venerable.  There  are  certain  great  features  and  ideas,  however,  in 
education  that  are  fundamental,  and  there  are  certain  institutional 
outgrowths  of  these  ideas  that  are  as  permanent  and  as  vital  as  that 
out  of  which  they  have  grown.    It  is  with  a  view  of  emphasizing  my 


$ 

t  convictions  on  this  point  that  I  have  selected  as  my  theme  for  this 
occasion  "The  Historic  Old-Fashioned  College;  Its  Place  and  Func- 
tion in  the  Educational  World."  Allow  me  to  explain  just  what  I 
mean  by  "the  historic  old-fashioned  college."  Perhaps  1  should  be- 
gin by  elimination. 

1.  I  do  not  mean  a  stereotyped  curriculum.  There  are  certain 
lines  and  courses  of  study  that  are  fairly  entitled  to  be  called  his- 
toric. They  have  come  down  to  us  out  of  the  past  bearing  the 
approval  not  only  of  age,  but  of  ripened  fruits  as  well.  Yet  it  does 
not  follow  that  they  are  the  best  possible.  Almost  a  new  world 
with  its  wealth  of  knowledge  has  opened  to  us  since  these  historic 
courses  were  formulated. 

2.  I  do  not  mean  by  the  historic  college  an  inflexible  adhesion 
to  traditional  methods  of  teaching.  Some  of  them  were  good:  many 
of  them  were  crude  and  faulty  and  deserve  to  give  place,  as  they 
have,  to  that  which  is  better,  for  "the  thoughts  of  men  are  widened 
with  the  process  of  the  suns." 

3.  I  do  not  mean  necessarily  by  the  historic  college  the  old-time 
connection  between  the  church  and  the  school.  Historically,  that 
connection  is  very  close,  and,  in  a  sense  vital.  Por  long  ages  the 
church  nurtured  almost  exclusively  the  world's  institutions  of  learn- 
ing, great  and  small,  aud  in  the  nature  of  things  the  bond  between 
the  church  and  the  school  is  a  close  one.  Each  is,  in  a  sense,  de- 
pendent on  the  other.  Xeither  do  I  believe  that  the  college  is  neces- 
sarily a  branch  of  ecclesiasticism. 

There  are,  however,  certain  specific  educational  aims  and  princi- 
ples which  may  be  regarded  as  distinctive  of  the  historic  college,  and 
are  so  fundamental  that  they  are  not  affected  by  surface  changes. 
They  have  come  down  to  us  through  the  ages.  They  underlie  and 
give  individuality  to  the  college  today.  I  believe  they  are  so  funda- 
mental that  they  assure  the  importance  and  permanence  of  the  col- 
lege for  the  future.  Let  me  mention  and  emphasize  some  of  these 
underlying  principles  and  aims  characteristic  of  the  old-fashioned 
college. 

First  of  all,  the  historic  college  is  built  on  the  idea  that  its  work 
is  to  educate  men.  Xot  simply  to  educate  the  intellect  nor  to  train 
the  hand  or  the  eye  or  any  other  fractional  part,  but  to  educate  the 
man  himself.     The  work  of  the  old-fashioned  college  is  to  lay  the 


foundation  for  a  complete  manhood.  Its  aim  is  not  to  make  speci- 
alists, but  to  make  men;  to  furnish  through  its  courses  of  instruction 
and  through  all  the  appointments  of  its  influence  that  which  will 
bring  to  the  student  a  well-rounded  development  and  discipline  of 
mind  and  body  and  spirit,  so  that  he  shall  be  able  to  step  forth  from 
the  college  not  only  conscious  of  his  powers,  but  in  command  of 
them— able  to  summon  and  direct  them  in  this  channel  or  that  which 
he  may  choose  for  a  life-work.  With  that  ability  it  will  be  no  great 
task  for  him  to  become  a  specialist  in  any  line  which  he  may  elect. 
Without  that  ability  he  never  can  become  a  specialist  of  real  power. 
He  lacks  the  foundation  on  which  to  build. ,  Steadfast  height  always 
means  steadfast  depth.  The  higher  the  oak  goes  into  the  air  the 
deeper  its  roots  strike  into  the  ground.  The  tent  which  is  erected 
in  its  place  tonight  only  to  be  taken  down  tomorrow  needs  no  laying 
of  deep  foundations,  but  the  castle  which  is  to  stand  for  centuries, 
and  which  will  have  to  resist,  again  and  again,  the  shock  of  war, 
must  have  foundations  which  go  deep  into  the  ground  and  extend 
broadly  beneath  the  stately  walls.  Height  without  breadth  or  depth 
has  no  stability.  It  is  like  the  balloon  rolling  among  the  clouds  or 
the  reed  up-springing  in  the  sunshine  to  be  snapped  in  twain  by  the 
first  blasts  of  the  storm.  Every  great  structure  in  the  realm  of 
nature  or  in  the  realm  of  spirit  must  be  built  on  broad  foundations. 

Xothing  has  contributed  so  much  to  the  success  of  the  German 
system  of  education  as  the  fact  that  the  years  of  school  life  are  de- 
voted to  the  acquiring  of  a  culture  as  broad  and  as  deep  as  possible, 
on  whose  firm- foundation  the  youth  at  the  university  may  fearlessly 
build  his  specialty.  President  Mark  Hopkins,  one  of  the  noblest  ed- 
ucators of  the  century,  once  said  that  "the  strength,  the  excellency  of 
the  Xew  England  system,  is  that  it  aims  to  produce,  and  does  pro- 
duce, a  broad  and  thorough  culture  of  the  whole  man;  that  it  lays 
strong  and  deep  foundations  for  future  building."  First  is  the  broad 
foundation,  then  the  narrow  specialty;  first  the  laying  of  course  after 
course  of  heavy  stones  underground,  then  the  heavenward  stretch  of 
the  spire.  The  youth  thus  trained  can  carry  his  specialty  to  a  point 
undreamed  of  by  one  trained  in  a  narrower  fashion;  for  the  deeper 
broader  are  the  foundations  the  higher  can  be  carried  the  narrow- 
ing shaft  of  the  spire.  Where  there  are  no  foundations  at  all  there 
tuanent  building  skyward. 


I  know  this  is  not  popular  doctrine.  We  live  in  an  age  of  hurry: 
the  spirit  of  haste  is  everywhere.  The  traveler  asks  for  the  shortest 
route  and  the  quickest  train.  The  student  is  impatient  to  reach 
what  he  calls  the  end;  that  is,  to  get  into  his  life-work.  Foundation- 
laying  is  toilsome.  It  seems  to  be  barren  of  any  present  or  adequate 
result.  It  is  out-of-sight  work.  Xo  walls  are  rising,  and  it  is  not 
easy  for  the  impatient  youthful  mind  to  grasp  the  full  meaning  of 
the  connection  between  the  foundation  and  the  superstructure. 
Xevertheless  that  connection  exists,  and  it  is  vital.  It  is  with  this 
foundation-work  that  the  old-fashioned  college  has  largely  to  do.  It 
is  concerned  not  so  much  about  the  finishing  as  about  the  beginning; 
not  so  much  about  the  particular  channel  in  which  the  awakened 
and  trained  powers  shall  be  directed,  but  in  their  unfolding  and  dis- 
cipline. The  individual  interest  in  the  mill  often  makes  the  owner 
so  solicitous  about  the  current  in  the  sluice-way  that  he  is  forgetful 
of  the  river.  In  other  words,  the  college  has  to  do  with  the  making 
of  a  man  who  may  or  may  not  afterward  become  a  specialist.  Its 
purpose  is  not  to  train  men  for  specific  functions,  but  for  the  supreme 
function  of  living. 

The  man  must  precede  the  teacher,  the  artist,  the  writer,  the  suc- 
cessful achiever  in  any  particular  line.  The  first  essential  is  not 
that  the  man  shall  know  something,  but  that  he  shall  be  something; 
for  that  matter,  that  is  the  last  essential  as  well  as  the  first.  There- 
fore, I  argue  that  the  chiei  concern  of  education  has  to  do  with  the 
qualities  of  manhood — mental,  physical,  moral  and  spiritual.  It  is 
not  clear  that  the  same  methods  and  processes  that  are  fitted  to 
direct  trained  powers  into  proper  channels  are  also  fitted  for  the 
development  and  discipline  of  these  same  powers.  Here,  then,  is 
the  legitimate  work  of  the  college.  It  is  fundamental  and  persist- 
ent; it  yields  to  no  invasion;  it  acknowledges  no  successor;  it  is  in 
no  danger  of  being  superseded. 

I  do  not  overlook  the  attempts  that  have  been  made,  and  that  are 
being  made,  to  combine  the  college  and  professional  school.  The 
attempts  seek  justification  on  the  plea  that  life  is  too  short  to  give 
to  each  its  distinct  place  and  period;  that  in  the  interest  of  haste 
compromise  and  combination  must  be  resorted  to.  It  is  urged  that 
a  young  man  cannot  afford  to  give  so  many  years  of  his  early  life  to 
the  work  of  preparation;  that  the  absorbing  activities  that  wait  for 
him  are  too  pressing.    But  that  is  not  a  full  statement  of  the  case.     I 


admit  the  urgency,  but  the  demand  is  not  simply  for  men,  but  for 
men  strong  enough  to  grapple  with  the  problems  that  are  to  be 
solved.  The  result  turns  not  so  much  on  when  we  arrive,  as  on 
what  it  is  that  arrives.  In  the  end  it  will  be  found  that  an  institu- 
tion cannot  in  four  years  do  the  work  of  both  college  and  university. 
It  will  also  be  found  that  the  work  of  the  college  can  neither  be 
curtailed  nor  omitted  without  serious  loss.  The  most  potent  factor 
in  this  world  next  to  the  divine  is  man. 

Let  us  keep  clearly  before  us  the  distinction  between  the  man  and 
his  furnishings — his  equipment;  th.^  man  and  the  knowledge  which 
the  mind  acquires.  To  know  how  to  get  knowledge  and  to  be  able 
to  command  it  is  of  more  importance  than  the  knowledge  itself. 
President  Eliot  puts  the  truth  strongly  when  he  says,  "  the  real  pur- 
pose of  education  is  not  knowledge,  but  power  to  get  knowledge. " 
In  the  workman  the  trained  hand  is  of  more  importance  than  the 
tool  which  it  holds;  although  it  needs  the  tool  for  its  work.  The 
trained  mind  is  more  important  than  the  hand  which  it  commands,  al- 
though the  hand  is  an  indispensable  servant.  So  the  scholar  is  more 
than  his  scholarship;  the  thinker  is  more  than  the  thought  which  he 
produces.  It  is  important  that  the  soldier  have  good  weapons.  It- 
is  still  more  important  that  the  weapons  be  in  the  hands  of  a 
thoroughly  trained  soldier.  An  army  of  well-trained  men,  calm, 
steady,  resolute,  even  though  equipped  with  inferior  weapons,  will 
be  more  than  a  match  for  a  similar  number  of  men  lacking  drill, 
but  with  fine  equipment.  In  the  office  it  is  the  clear  head  and  the 
well-balanced  judgment'  that  master  an  emergency  rather  than  the 
expert  accountant. 

Wherever  you  turn  in  the  affairs  of  life  it  is  the  man  that  counts 
rather  than  his  special  equipment  in  this  particular  line  or  that.  ~Not 
that  equipment  is  unnecessary  or  that  it  is  to  be  undervalued,  but  it 
is  of  secondary  value.  It  is  important  to  have  both,  but  it  is  also  im- 
portant to  keep  the  emphasis  where  it  belongs.  If  either  be  curtailed, 
let  it  be  the  one  of  lesser  significance.  If  either  be  sacrificed,  let  it 
not  be  that  which  is  fundamental  and  without  which  the  other 
counts  for  but  little.  In  other  words,  the  old-fashioned  historic  col- 
lege stands  for  that  which  is  fundamental  in  education.  It  has  not 
given  place  and  will  not.  Current  judgment  may  be  swayed  and 
turned  aside  for  a  while  toward  this  substitute  or  that,  but  it  i» 
id  to  come  back  when  it  has  had  time  to  recover. 


9 


I  am  not  calling  in  question  either  the  value  or  the  necessity  of  the 
University  or  the  various  grades  of  technical  schools  that  are  being 
multiplied  throughout  the  land.  I  most  heartily  believe  in  them. 
They  have  their  place  and  an  important  work  to  perform,  I  do  not 
believe,  however,  that  such  institutions  supersede  the  historic  old- 
fashioned  college,  I  do  not  believe  they  can  do  the  work  that  the 
college  has  done  and  is  doing  today.  There  need  be  no  antagonism; 
there  should  be  no  unfriendly  disparagement.  Each  in  its  legiti- 
mate work  should  be  an  incitement  and  aid  to  the  other. 

It  may  be  objected  that  in  this  discussion  I  have  assumed  that 
there  is  no  disciplinary  value  in  the  study  pursued  in  strictly  pro- 
fessional work.  I  would  not  state  it  so  broadly  as  that.  Doubt- 
less there  is  some  disciplinary  effect  resulting  from  strictly  profes- 
sional training,  but  it  is  not  strong;  it  lacks  fiber.  It  is  not  sufficient 
to  furnish  the  real  power  that  gives  mastery;  and  so  I  argue  that 
that  method  of  education  that  keeps  uppermost  the  thought  of  what 
is  to  be  done  for  and  in  the  man  himself  is  more  important  than  that, 
which  places  the  emphasis  on  what  is  going  to  be  placed  within  his 
grasp.  I  do  not  share  in  the  fear  expressed  by  some  that  the  college 
and  especially  the  small  college,  is  doomed.  I  do  not  believe  it.  It 
holds  its  place  by  sovereign  right,  and  will  hold  it. 

There  are  three  obvious  stages  of  study  correlated  and  distinct — 
the  elementary,  the  disciplinary  and  the  specializing.  Neither  can 
do  the  work  of  the  other,  and  in  the  order  of  advance  neither  can  do 
its  work  without  the  other.  The  college  that  recognizes  its  own  place 
and  function  is  in  no  danger  of  being  supplanted.  It  needs  only  to 
be  steadfast  and  self-respecting.  It  has  no  occasion  either  to  imi- 
tate or  quarrel.  Let  it  do  its  work,  and  do  it  well.  Let  it  rec- 
ognize its  pre-eminent  task  as  disciplinary,  its  investigation  pri- 
marily and  mainly  for  the  development  of  the  investigator,  and  it 
will'  hold  its  place  in  the  future  as  it  has  in  the  past.  Some  range 
must  be  conceded  to  the  spirit  of  experimentation  which  has  entered 
into  the  souls  of  educators,  but  it  is  safe  to  predict  that  the  field  of 
the  college  will  remain  when  present  uncertainties  have  passed  away, 
and  that  in  its  field  the  college  will  be  supreme.  The  university  will 
be  built  on,  but  not  out  of,  the  college. 

The  second  thing  I  want  to  emphasize  is  that  the  historic  old- 
fashioned  college  proceeds  on  the  conviction  that  the  masterspring 
qf  the  man  is  the  moral  nature.    It  not  only  believes  that  man  has  a 


10 


moral  nature  and  that  it  deserves  to  be  recognized,  but  that  the 
moral  nature  holds  the  key  to  his  highest  possibilities,  both  mental 
and  physical.  The  close  connection  between  the  historic  college  and 
the  church  is  not  an  accidental  connection.  The  fact  that  the  school 
is  the  outgrowth  of  the  church  rather  than  the  church  an  outgrowth 
of  the  school  is  profoundly  significant.  One  is  germinal,  the  other 
resultant.  That  which  touches  the  moral  nature  quickens  the  mind 
also.     The  moral  reacts  on  the  mental. 

Many  an  intellectual  giant  has  slumbered  until  the  springs  of  his 
moral  nature  were  touched.  Luther  had  never  moved  Germany  and 
the  world  had  he  not  first  been  moved  by  the  love  of  Christ.  His 
own  testimony  was  that  he  studied  best  when  he  prayed  most.  Fel- 
lowship with  God  gave  him  mental  strength  and  moral  courage  to 
think  strongly,  and  ability  to  stand  alone  against  the  intellectual  and 
royal  array  of  the  world.  John  Wesley  might  have  been*  a  pragmatic 
failureall  his  days  if  God  had  not  touched  him.  The  divine  anointing 
made  him  the  greatest  reformer  of  his  time.  A  great  prelate  re- 
marks that  no  one  can  open  his  mind  far  enough  to  take  in  the  idea 
of  God  without  admitting  a  troop  of  lesser  ideas  at  the  same  time. 
Note  the  effect  of  the  vivid  preaching  of  a  pure  theism  on  the 
Saracen  mind.  It  aroused  that  torpid  Semitic  race,  and  while  its 
inspiration  lasted  made  them  all  conquering.  Indeed,  we  can  almost 
grade  the  civilization  of  a  people  by  their  notion  of  God.  The  moral 
nature,  then,  is  a  large  factor  in  the  strictly  educational  problem. 
But  it  presents  other  phases  not  less  significant  nor  important. 

The  presence  or  absence  of  distinctively  moral  or  religious  in- 
fluence in  connection  with  educational  training  will  have  large  effect 
in  shaping  and  molding  the  character,  the  ideals  and  standards  of 
the  student  for  life.  It  touches  him  at  a  critical  period  of  unfolding. 
The  responsive  mind  of  childhood  has  given  place  to  the  inquisitive 
and  doubting  mind  of  boyhood  and  young  manhood.  The  problems 
being  constantly  thrust  on 'him  as  a  part  of  his  studies  bring  him 
face  to  face  with  the  profoundest  questions  in  morals  and  religion. 
The  problems  of  science  are  becoming  more  and  more  genetic  prob- 
lems; that  is,  they  have  ceased  to  be  questions  of  classification  and 
have  come  to  be  questions  of  origin — origin  of  force,  of  life,  of 
species;  of  mind,  of  language,  of  society,  of  civilization,  of  religion. 

it  is  as  clear  as  noonday  that  the  science  professor  cannot  discuss 


11 


these  questions  without  abutting  on  the  final  issue  and  pronouncing 
for  a  God  or  no  God,  a  Providence  or  no  Providence,  a  soul  or  no 
soul.  There  is  no  alternative.  Science  henceforth  must  be  materi- 
alistic or  spiritualistic,  theistic  or  atheistic.  God  or  no  God  is  the 
question  of  the  hour,  and  it  is  astonishing — sometimes  even  appall- 
ing— to  observe  how  scientists  are  dividing  into  antagonistic  types. 
This  is  the  realm  into  which  the  student's  daily  work  brings  him.  He 
is  not  only  learning  facts  of  science,  but  he  is  reaching  conclusions 
as  to  what  lies  back  of  these  facts,  and  in  these  conclusions  he  needs 
guidance,  not  less  than  in  tracing  the  facts  themselves. 

It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  also  that  the  college  student  is,  as  a  rule, 
away  from  home,  from  its  religious  atmosphere,  and  its  wholesome 
restraints.  All  of  these  bonds  have  been  severed  at  once.  He  is 
thrown  into  the  intense  inquisitive  life  of  the  college,  where  these 
questions  of  cause,  force,  Providence,  duty  and  destiny  are  up  for 
discussion.  Who  is  to  guide  him  in  his  inexperience  and  danger, 
and  what  kind  of  guidance  shall  it  be?  He  is  surrounded  by  young 
spirits  buoyant  with  a  new  sense  of  liberty  and  unsobered  by  a  sense 
of  responsibility.  Eliminate  from  such  a  situation  as  this  any  posi- 
tive moral  and  religious  guidance,  and  two  things  will  certainly  fol- 
low: Skeptics  will  be  confirmed  in  their  unbelief  and  believers  will 
become  ashamed  of  their  faith.  I  do  not  believe  I  have  overdrawn 
the  situation.  If  it  be  true  that  the  best  education  requires  the  un- 
folding of  the  entire  man,  moral  and  spiritual  as  well  as  mental  and 
physical,  then  there  should  be  such  force  at  work  in  an  educational 
institution  as  will  appeal  to  the  whole  man.  If  it  be  true  that  the 
religious  man  is  a  broader,  better,  safer  man  than  the  irreligious,  then 
adequate  effort  should  be  put  forth  to  this  end  while  the  man  is  in 
the  process  of  making. 

I  do  not  believe  that  the  college  can  escape  responsibility  at  this 
point.  The  moral  nature  is  not  an  incident,  and  the  part  it  has  to 
play  in  connection  with  manhood  is  no  subordinate  part.  It  must 
determine  more  than  any  other  factor  the  value  of  his  scholarship  to 
the  world.  During  these  years  there  are  in  process  of  formation 
ideals  of  life,  underlying  and  controlling  aims  and  convictions  which 
are  to  furnish  not  only  the  setting  for  his  scholarship,  but  which 
shall,  to  a  large  extent,  determine  the  use  he  is  to  make  of  it.  What 
the  world  needs  is  not  simply  nor  mainly  minds  stored  with  scientific 


12 


or  classical  knowledge;  hands  trained  in  scientific  skill;  experts 
along  professional  lines  of  service.  It  needs  these,  and  there  should 
be  no  disparagement  of  them;  but  it  needs  back  of  these,  and  as  a 
condition  of  their  highest  use,  such  a  training  and  molding  of  the 
moral  nature — through  a  man's  aims,  ideals  and  principles — as  that 
he  shall  be  thoroughly  and  irrevocably  grounded  in  the  great  princi- 
ciples  of  righteous  living  and  righteous  achieving. 

Education  is  not  an  end,  but  a  means.  Its  fruitage  is  in  the  man. 
The  real  test  of  its  worth  is  the  kind  of  life  it  fashions  and  develops. 
More  and  more  clearly  we  are  coming  to  see  that  living;  is  the 
supreme  thing  for  which  men  are  sent  into  this  world,  and  that  to 
this  supreme  activity  everything  is  subordinate.  The  real  ques- 
is  not  the  form  of  political  order,  but  the  righteousness,  the  health- 
fulness,  and  happiness  of  those  who  live  and  work  under  its  protec- 
tion; not  the  theory  of  society,  but  the  building  up  of  sound-hearted 
men;  not  the  growth  of  art,  but  that  rich  unfolding  of  heart  and  mind 
under  the  pressure  of  experience,  which  is  the  soil  out  of  which  art 
springs;  not  the  framing  of  a  theologian's  system  of  divinity,  but 
making  men  reverent  and  righteous  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  their  activities. 

It  is  not  necessary  that  a  college  be  sectarian  to  meet  these 
demands;  it  is  not  necessary  even,  perhaps,  that  should  it  be  denom- 
inational; it  is  necessary  that  it  be  positively  and  strongly  religious. 
In  this  respect  again  the  historic  old-fashioned  college  has  not  been 
outgrown.  It  has  stood,  and  still  stands,  for  high-grade  masterly 
scholarship,  hand  in  hand  with  a  reverent  and  devout  recognition 
of  the  claims  and  needs  of  religion. 

I  name  as  a  third  characteristic  of  the  historic  college  the  fact 
that  it  has  always  placed  great  emphasis  on  the  personal  influence 
and  the  molding  'power  of  the  teacher.  We  cannot  state  too  strongly 
that  which  ought  to  be  self-evident,  but  which  unfortunately,  is 
oftentimes  overlooked;  this,  namely,  that  the  real  strength  of  an 
educational  institution  is  not  in  its  buildings,  its  libraries,  its  labor- 
atories, its  courses  of  study,  but  in  the  quality  of  its  teachers.  The 
college  is  not,  be  it  remembered,  a  collection  of  stately  buildings:  it 
is  always  a  body  of  living  men.  The  question  is  not  so  much  what 
is  taught  and  how  much,  but  how  and  by  whom.  Some  one  has 
pithily  said  "a  dead  language  taught  by  a  living  man  is  better  than 


1? 


a  living  language  taught  by  a  dead  book."  It  goes  without  saying 
that  in  these  days  a  teacher  must  be  a  thorough  scholar  and  a  master 
in  his  department.  But  what  I  am  now  emphasizing  is  not  so  much 
his  scholarly  ability,  as  his  personality — the  quality  of  his  man- 
hood. That,  if  it  be  large  and  genuine,  stamps  itself  indelibly  and 
counts  for  more  a3  an  educational  factor  than  any  other  one  thing, 
perhaps  more  than  all  other  things. 

If  I  were  to  ask  any  one  of  you  who  has  been  out  of  college  for 
ten  years  or  more  to  state  what  remains  with  you  as  the  most  prac- 
tical and  helpful  part  of  your  college  course,  I  venture  the  testimony 
wonld  be  that  it  was  the  abiding  inspiration  of  contact  with  a  great, 
strong  noble  personality  possessed  by  some  teacher. 

President  Garfield,  in  an  address  before  a  convention  of  teachers, 
once  said:  "It  has  long  been  my  opinion  that  we  are  all  educated, 
whether  men,  women,  or  children,  far  more  by  personal  influence 
than  by  books  or  the  apparatus  of  the  schools.  If  I  could  be  taken 
back  into  boyhood  today  and  had  all  the  laboratories  and  appliances 
of  a  university,  with  ordinary  routine  professors,  offered  me  on  the 
one  hand,  and  on  the  other  a  great,  luminous,  rich-souled  man  like 
Mark  Hopkins  in  a  tent  in  the  woods,  alone,  I  would  gay,  give  me 
Dr.  Hopkins  for  my  college  course  rather  than  any  university  with 
only  routine  professors.  The  privilege  of  sitting  down  before  a  great 
clear-headed,  large-hearted  man  and  breathing  the  atmosphere  of  his 
life,  and  being  drawn  up  to  him,  and  lifted  up  by  him,  and  learning 
his  methods  of  thinking  and  living,  is  itself  an  enormous  educating 
power.  But  America  is  running  too  much  to  brick  and  mortar.  Let 
us  put  less  money  in  great  schoolhouses  and  more  in  the  salaries  of 
great  teachers.  Smaller  schools  and  more  teachers,  less  material 
and  more  personal  influence,  will  bring  forth  fruits  higher  and  vaster 
than  any  we  have  yet  seen. 

Dr.  Parkhurst  of  Xew  York  presents  not  less  forcibly  the  opposite 
experience.  He  says:  "Manhood  is  the  best  commodity  our  col- 
leges can  turn  out — splendid  vigor  of  mind  and  morals;  and  only 
manhood  can  foster  manhood.  There  is  not  a  college  graduate 
among  us  but  knows  how  many  of  our  institutions  of  learning  are 
cluttered  up  with  little  dignitaries,  curiosities  outside  the  museum: 
bipedal  grammars ;  lexicons  going  about  in  coat  and  trousers  and 
whose  touch  is  not  a  baptism.    ISTot  a  graduate  of  us  but  would  be 


14 


a  greater,  richer  and  more  luscious  man  today  if  we  had  not  for  four 
years  of  cur  lives  been  held  in  forced  contact  with  so  much  common- 
place material  and  cultivated  diminutiveness  in  the  shape  of  tutors 
and  professors  who  could  amuse  us  with  their  erudition,but  who  could 
not  work  in  us  a  profound  inspiration." 

Emerson,  referring  to  the  same  kind  of  imbecility,  exclaims: 
"How  can  I  hear  what  you  are  saying  when  all  the  time  what  you 
are  is  thundering  in  my  ears?" 

That  is  rather  harsh,  almost  savage  delineation,  but  it  has  the  vir- 
tue of  truth  as  well  as  of  frankness.  The  teacher  is  always  more 
than  the  task  he  sets.  His  personality  exalts  or  belittles  his  work. 
The  real  teacher  is  more  than  a  drill-master.  This  personal  element 
in  education  is  in  danger  of  being  undervalued  just  now  when  so 
much  is  being  said  about  material  equipment  and  elaborate  courses. 
It  is  one  of  the  factors,  however,  that  has  held  an  important  place  in 
the  historic  college,  and  which  constitutes  one  of  the  strong  claims  of 
the  college  today,  and  especially  of  the  small  college. 

The  small  college  affords  opportunity  for  direct  contact  between 
student  and  teacher  as  the  large  institution  cannot  do.  It  fosters 
individuality.  Every  teacher  comes  to  know  every  student,  and  life 
touches  life.  Some  one  has  said  that  if  Socrates  had  been  at  the 
head  of  a  university  there  would  have  been  no  Plato.  The  inference 
is  perhaps  rather  sweeping,  but  there  is  no  questioning  the  fact  that 
what  Plato  felt  Socrates  to  be  was  quite  as  much  to  him  as  what  he 
heard  Socrates  say. 

I  need  hardly  say  that  what  I  have  described  as  characteristic  of 
the  old-fashioned  historic  college  is  my  thought  and  my  ambition  for 
Wabash.  It  is  in  accord  with  what  she  has  been;  it  defines  what 
she  hopes  to  become  more  grandly  in  the  future.  Of  her  record  I 
need  say  but  little.  Not  only  throughout  the  central  "West,  but 
throughout  the  land  she  is  known  and  honored  for  her  high  standard 
of  scholarly  work  maintained  through  all  her  history. 

It  shall  be  our  aim  not  only  to  perpetuate  that  record,  but,  as  oppor- 
tunity affords,  to  advance  and  exalt  it,  and  I  pledge  you  today  that 
no  effort  shall  be  lacking  that  is  necessary  to  make  Wabash  College 
morally  and  spiritually  a  safe,  healthful  and  inspiring  place  for  the 
upbuilding  of  Christian  manhood.  Ranking  among  the  pioneer  col- 
leges of  the  West,  she  has  for  almost  seventy  years  stood  for  that 


15 


which  is  highest  and  best  in  educational  ideals  and  methods  and 
results.  Her  founders  were  men  of  great  purpose  and  great  faith. 
Among  her  instructors  from  the  very  beginning  were  those  who  have 
been  accorded  easily  a  place  among  the  foremost  educators  of  their 
day.  Her  four  presidents  have  been  the  acknowledged  peers  of  any 
in  the  land,  two  of  them  yielding  their  office  only  with  their  lives;  a 
third  graciously  spared  in  the  evening  of  his  life  to  linger  among 
the  associations  and  monuments  that  bear  the  impress  of  his  thirty 
years  of  noble  and  heroic  service.  Nor  would  I  fail  to  mention  in 
this  list  my  immediate  predecessor,  who,  on  account  of  previous 
engagements,  is  prevented  from  sharing  in  the  services  of  today.  I 
feel  that  it  is  no  small  honor  and  no  light  responsibility  to  stand,  as 
I  do  today,  the  successor  of  such  men  and  the  official  representative 
of  such  an  institution. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Board  of  Trustees — I  am  not  insensible  of  the 
honor  you  have  done  me  in  the  expression  of  your  confidence  in  twice 
placing  before  me  this  open  door  of  service  through  which  I  enter 
today.  Your  kindly  preferment  is  doubly  appreciated  because  of 
the  fact  that  with  most  of  you  I  have  been  permitted  for  more  than 
a  decade  to  share  the  responsibility  of  official  trust  in  behalf  of  the 
college.  To  the  continuance  of  your  intelligent  and  efficient  devo- 
tion to  the  affairs  of  the  college  I  must  look  largely  for  the  success- 
ful carrying  forward  oi  the  work  you  have  placed  in  my  hands. 

To  my  associates  in  the  faculty  I  turn  with  grateful  confidence, 
realizing  that  on  their  constant  co-operation  and  counsel  I  must  de- 
pend in  carrying  the  responsibilities  you  have  imposed  on  me.  I  need 
not  speak  in  this  presence  today  of  what  they  are  and  of  what  they 
have  been  to  the  college.  United  in  one  common  ambition  for 
Wabash,  unsparing  in  their  devotion  and  interest  to  her  and  her 
students,  and,  without  boasting,  I  am  prompted  to  add  unsurpassed 
in  their  scholarly  fitness  for  their  work. 

To  the  alumni  the  college  ever  turns  with  pride  and  confidence. 
Old  and  young  they  are  still  "  her  boys."  They  can  never  get  be- 
yond the  limits  of  her  household  ties.  Their  successes  are  hers  and 
her  successes  are  theirs.  Many  of  them  in  the  achievements  of  life 
have  made  her  name  known  and  honored  throughout  the  world. 
Wabash  is  proud  of  her  sons.  She  is  the  mother  of  Grachii.  On 
their  unfailing  devotion  she  must  depend  largely  in  the  future. 
Speak  of  her  often  and  be  generous  in  her  praise.    Fail  not  to  give 


16 


her  your  strong  right  hand  when  she  needs  your  help.  And  when  I 
speak  of  her  sons  who  call  her  Alma  Mater,  I  cannot  but  link  with 
them  in  almost  equal  affection  and  honor  a  still  larger  company 
who  for  longer  or  shorter  terms  dwelt  under  her  roof  and  feasted  at 
her  table,  but  went  forth  before  they  reached  their  majority;  I  mean 
the  non-graduate  students  of  other  days  whose  love  and  loyalty  to 
the  dear  old  college  is  not  less  sincere  nor  less  valued.  Your  names 
are  on  her  record  and  are  proudly  spoken  when  she  counts  her 
treasures. 

W abash  has  had  her  noble  benefactors  who,  out  of  their  treasures, 
great  and  small,  have  enriched  her  with  their  gifts.  These  gifts 
have  made  it  possible  for  her  to  be  what  she  has  been  for  seventy 
years — a  pioneer  in  a  new  land  aud  a  center  of  controlling  influence 
in  a  great  commonwealth.  She  needs  them  yet  if  she  is  to  hold  her 
place  of  leadership.  Amid  the  rapidly  multiplying  demands  that 
press  on  her  she  must  have  larger  financial  resources  than  yet  have 
been  supplied.     She  deserves  this,  and  I  believe  she  will  have  it. 

There  is  one  other  appeal  which  comes  from  the  depths  of  my 
heart  today  and  which  may  properly  claim  its  place  at  the  close  of 
this  address.  I  cannot  express  it  more  eloquently  or  more  fittingly 
than  by  quoting  the  words  spoken  on  a  similar  occasion  almost  forty 
years  ago  by  one  whose  name  is  loved  and  whose  lifework  is  honored 
by  every  friend  of  Wabash  and  whose  presence  with  us  today  is 
as  a  benediction.  I  quote  from  the  inaugural  of  ex-President  Tuttle 
delivered  July  24,  1862.     He  said: 

"  I  cannot  suffer  this  occasion  to  pass  without  an  appeal  to  the 
churches  and  ministers  of  Indiana  and  the  Central  West.  This  col- 
lege is  the  child  of  your  piety.  You  prayed  it  into  existence;  its 
struggles  hitherto  have  endeared  it  to  you,  and  I  hear  you  saying 
with  fondness  and  pride,  '  This  is  our  college.'  This  is  right.  Pray 
for  this  college  when  you  meet  in  the  sanctuary;  pray  for  it  at  your 
family  altars;  pray  for  it  in  your  closets,  and  Wabash  College  will 
become  dear  to  you  'as  the  apple  of  your  eye.'  Send  your  sons 
hither  to  catch  the  infection  of  its  literary  atmosphere,  and  take  her 
to  your  heart  of  hearts.  Then  shall  your  college  wax  in  strength 
and  beauty.  Not  merely  will  she  become  your  boast,  but  the  right 
arm  of  your  power  in  the  conflicts  you  are  waging  on  the  world's 
most  glorious  battlefield." 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 
C.W11  KK1900     C001 
Inaugural  address  of  Rev.  W.P.  Kane    0 


3  0112  089382748 


